Monday, December 7, 2009

Playhouse Square: Wicked Rocks (a benefit)

You can find the extensive program for the show at the end of this post.

It was with some trepidation that I went to tonight's performance -- it wasn't actually until I left my violin lesson that I decided to give it a go... bought my ticket and snuck into the Hannah Theatre with a little less than 10 minutes to published curtain.

It was a fantastic evening of music for a great cause, The Brian Warbel Memorial Fund/University Hospitals. Quite a few people donated time and talent to pull off a the event and you could tell that the cast and band members were really enjoying themselves. The audio problems present during the State Theatre performance of Wicked were nonexistent; levels were relatively balanced, audio was clear.... and a good time was had by all.

Adding entertainment was the live auction held just before intermission, which was amusing enough on its own. A bidding war that erupted for one item was stopped by management and declared a tie at $4k -- I would have been interested to see how high it could have gotten; I got the sense one of the women was not going to back down until she won, regardless of price.

All of the performances were great; Richard Kline's MCing was entertaining, and his introduction to Homeward Bound was touching.

LincolnWe Will Rock You (Queen), California Dreamin' (Mammas and the Pappas), Every Day I Write The Book (Elvis Costello), The Four Seasons Medley, Landslide (Fleetwood Mac), Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield), For Once In My Life (Stevie Wonder), Fire (Bruce Springsteen), A Case of You (Joni Mitchell), Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne), Somebody to Love (Queen), Proud Mary (CCR), Homeward Bound (Simon and Garfunkel), Every Little Thing She Does (The Police), Something to Talk About (Bonnie Raitt), Brown Sugar (The Rolling Stones), Come Sail Away (Styx), Dream On (Aerosmith), Let It Be (Paul McCartney/John Lennon)